Chapter 62

For Seyra, today was a good luck day.

She woke up feeling refreshed, without the usual stiffness in her neck, cracked open an egg to find it was a double yolk, and found just one spoonful of jam left—just enough.

It was a rare stroke of luck since Rin had moved in.

Yet Seyra couldn’t bring herself to enjoy it. She couldn’t even eat the double-yolked fried egg sitting in front of her.

“Meat. I want meat.”

“You need to eat your vegetables too. That’s how you’ll grow into a healthy, pretty fox.”

“Eww, veggies are gross.”

“If you eat your vegetables, I’ll buy you a treat later.”

“Yay!”

The two of them chatted cheerfully, almost like family. Despite being the host, Seyra felt more like a guest at the table.

Seyra watched the two of them with her fork and knife in hand.

“What is going on here?”

“What do you mean?”

“How is it that Miss Rin can speak now?”

Just yesterday, all she could manage were yips and whines, yet here she was, suddenly speaking fluently.

Neither Karamir nor Rin seemed to find this strange. Seyra was the only one puzzled by the sudden change.

“What’s the big deal? Kids grow up quickly, after all.”

Is that so?

Well, beastfolk did mature faster than other species. Given that, it was somewhat understandable. After all, Rin was around the age when speech wouldn’t be unusual.

But still...

“I feel like I’m seeing things.”

“What do you think you’re seeing?”

“Rin’s tail... I’m seeing three of them.”

Indeed, Rin’s fox tail had multiplied. Three pink tails swayed and danced behind her, mesmerizing anyone who stared too long, as if it were some sort of hypnotic trance.

Perhaps she was still half-asleep and seeing things, or maybe they were moving too quickly, leaving an afterimage.

Seyra rubbed her eyes, but nothing changed. The tails remained. She wasn’t hallucinating.

“Why has Rin’s tail multiplied?”

“Well, it’s part of growing up. Like how deer grow antlers as they mature.”

“But I’ve never heard of a fox with more tails...”

Actually, she had. Somewhere in her memories, a collection of folklore came to mind.

“A nine-tailed fox...?”

A thousand-year-old fox spirit. A mythical fox with nine tails.

“She’s hardly a nine-tailed fox. She only has three.”

“What if they keep multiplying until she has nine?”

“Nine-tailed foxes are fairy tales. Just because she has three doesn’t mean she’ll grow more. Rin is simply a three-tailed fox. A Sammiho.”

While a nine-tailed fox was a creature of myth, a three-tailed fox like a Sammiho was occasionally spotted among fox beastfolk.

Just as there are Pegasi and Unicorns among horse beastfolk.

“Why? If Rin were a nine-tailed fox, would you throw her out? Rin, it seems Seyra doesn’t want you here.”

“Throw me out...? Seyra doesn’t like Rin?”

“I never said that...”

“What will happen if Seyra throws Rin out...?”

Rin looked at Karamir with wide, worried eyes. Karamir sighed and shook his head, feigning pity.

“What else? We’d have to sleep on the street, shivering in the cold, and soaking in the rain.”

“You’ve got plenty of money—”

“Brr, I hate the cold...”

Sniffling, Rin lowered her head to the table, her eyes welling up with tears. Her drooping ears and tails made her look pitiful beyond words.

“You wouldn’t even get to eat meat, just grass every day.”

“But all the meat you’re eating right now is—”

“I hate grasssss! Seyra, don’t throw Rin out!”

Finally, Rin burst into tears. Seyra tried to protest, but it was too late. In Rin’s mind, she was already a match girl.

Rain. Snow. Wearing tattered clothes and begging. The table has only greens. Sleeping on the ground. Shivering in the cold.

“And just when you manage to get some meat, a stray cat steals it...”

“Don’t take Rin’s meat, cat!”

Karamir whispered this bleak “reality” into Rin’s ears, describing a desperate struggle for imaginary meat. Seyra, rubbing her temples, looked like she was getting a headache.

“It’s too much, really. Throwing her out just for having a few extra tails. And they talk about caring for beastfolk...”

“I’m not throwing her out. Even if she had nine or twenty tails, I’m not throwing her out. Is that clear?”

At last, Seyra couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up. Rin, teary-eyed and swollen, looked up at Seyra cautiously.

“Really...?”

“Really.”

“You don’t hate Rin?”

“I don’t hate you. I like you.”

Rin looked to Karamir.

“Seyra’s not throwing me out.”

“Well, isn’t that a relief?”

“Did I do good?”

“Perfect.”

In no time, Rin’s tears disappeared, replaced by a big grin as she happily dug into her meat.

Seyra could only laugh in disbelief.

It seemed that, along with her tails, Rin had also gained some slyness, perhaps from spending too much time with her master.

“Where are we going, Master?”

“We’re going to meet a fox granny.”@@novelbin@@

“Fox granny?”

Rin looked up at me, her three tails swaying.

Rin’s tail count had increased to three overnight. Though beastfolk tails tend to multiply rapidly at first, I hadn’t expected two to appear at once.

As her tails grow, so too does Rin’s physical maturity. She’d grown a bit taller and had even started speaking, albeit a bit clumsily.

“I’m sure she’ll become more fluent as she practices.”

She was adorable just as she was, but I was looking forward to seeing her grow even more.

But that wasn’t the important part.

The crucial thing was that her third tail had appeared, not her second or fourth.

Three, six, nine.

Every time her tail count reaches a multiple of three, Rin’s powers as a nine-tailed fox increase significantly.

Whereas yesterday, she fought like an animal, today she could start learning fox magic.

Which is why we were on our way to meet a teacher who could teach her magic.

“It’s truly a sight to see.”

It felt like just yesterday that I’d met Rin, yet here she was, already this grown. Was this really the same fox who used to growl at me? I felt a swelling pride.

“Is this the place?”

A deserted side street. An old alley nestled between buildings.

On the wall was a mural of a fox holding a pearl under a cloud.

This was it.

Even for someone who plays a lot of games, remembering the location and details of every character is impossible.

But I could never forget one of the rare witches of Taosl.

The beast of Bestia, whom I absolutely had to meet to set Rin free.

The witch of destiny. Heavenly fox Yuhwa.

Yuhwa was in this alley’s fortune-teller’s shop!

“So why isn’t she here?”

A shabby fortune-teller’s shop.

As I opened the creaky door, there were only tables and chairs, covered in a thick layer of dust.

Had she stepped out for a moment? In the game, she was always here, so this was a first for me.

“Well, it’s not like this is my only chance.”

I decided to come back the next day.

But even after several days of repeated visits, Yuhwa was nowhere to be found.

Even Rin started to get annoyed by the wasted trips.

“Master, did granny die?”

“I doubt it. She looks like an old lady, but she’ll live longer than me.”

If Yuhwa hadn’t returned to the shop, she probably wasn’t in business anymore.

“Hmm, if that’s the case...”

I was flustered, but I was lucky enough to know one other place she might be.

Though that information only became available after building a friendship with her in the game, I decided quickly.

Bestia, the main stage of Rin’s story.

In Taosl, a setting that mimics a medieval Western world, Bestia is a unique country where Western and Eastern influences coexist.

Instead of monsters, there are yokai, and creatures like Pegasus or Harpies exist alongside four mythological beasts.

The reason is simple.

“Because gamers like it.”

Taosl is fundamentally a game full of otaku appeal.

Just as Chinese regions appear in Chinese games, and Samurai and Ninja are staples of Japanese games, Bestia is a city built around Rin, the nine-tailed fox.

Back on topic, we arrived at an Eastern-style building in the middle of Bestia’s capital, surrounded by Western-style structures.

This place, which looked like a martial arts inn, was Bestia’s top trading company.

Heavenly Tower (Cheonsangru).

Like finding out an old lady collecting scrap was actually a building owner, the master of Cheonsangru was Yuhwa.

“What brings you here?”

A tiger in traditional Eastern attire greeted us upon entering Cheonsangru.

“I’m here to see the master of the company.”

“It’s my first time seeing you. Do you have an appointment with the elder?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Without an appointment, it’s difficult to meet her. She’s not someone you can just approach.”

Busy? That old lady, holed up in a shabby fortune-teller’s shop with nothing better to do?

Well, not many know her true identity. Maybe this employee just doesn’t know.

“If it’s truly impossible, could you at least relay a message?”

“As long as it’s nothing strange...”

Fortunately, this big friendly cat was willing to pass on a message.

In that case, I needed something short and sure to catch Yuhwa’s attention.

“Please tell the master of the company...”

There was only one phrase Yuhwa would understand immediately.

“The nine-tailed fox has come to see her.”